Home favorite Elena-Gabriela Ruse will play first-time finalist Tamara Korpatsch in the final of the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca. 

The two unseeded players won their semifinal matches in straight sets Saturday. Wildcard Ruse was a 6-1, 6-4 winner over No.4 seed Rebeka Masarova of Spain, while Korpatsch came through an all-German match against Eva Lys, 6-4, 6-3.

Ruse played two finals in July of 2021, winning her first career Hologic WTA Tour singles title in Hamburg, Germany on clay over Andrea Petkovic and finishing runner-up to Danielle Collins in Palermo. 

She hadn't reached a final since then, but picked up a win over second-seeded American Alycia Parks in the first round before following that up with an 81-minute win over Masarova in their first career meeting. After an easy first set, Ruse lost serve to begin the second, but quickly reestablished herself to the tune of a 6-1, 4-1 lead. 

Then, the match got more complex: Ruse failed to serve out the match at 6-1, 5-3, and Masarova let two chances for 5-5 slip away before the Romanian finished off the win. 

Korpatsch, meanwhile, is bidding to be the 12th first-time champion in singles on tour this year. She beat her younger compatriot in 82 minutes, taking command of the match by winning eight of nine games from 4-3 down in the first set.

The 28-year-old German had previously not won a set in her first three tour-level semifinals, having won 12 games in the six sets in those matches. 

Ruse owns a 2-0 head-to-head record against Korpatsch, with both of those wins coming in three sets. But the two have not played since 2020.